The Education Quality and Accountability Office has made changes in how it assesses students, making it fairer for students in the eyes of the interim director of education with the Keewatin Patricia District School Board.

The changes include having two methods of testing, one for students who have been within the Ontario public education system for two years, and one method for students new to the curriculum.

“I think that it was unfair when we had kids come from the north, write the test and they’ve never seen the material,” Caryl Hron said at KPDSB’s Oct. 8 meeting. “It wasn’t really a fair measurement for them and for having two different measurements is going to be very good for our kids.”

The EQAO visited with the KPDSB last year and received feedback from teachers and staff and they will be implementing these changes in next year’s assessments.

“They took our recommendations and made some changes,” Hron, who is also a superintendent of education said. “I’m glad they’ve come to our board and they’ve listened, and they’ve made changes to the EQAO assessments.”

When asked if these changes will help improve scores within the KPDSB, Hron said students who have had exposure to the curriculum will do better.

The new assessments will help staff measure students’ performance all throughout their school careers.

This year the Ministry of Education has placed a priority on math with funds set aside to help boost EQAO scores. There were 11 schools across the KPDSB selected based on EQAO results over the last five years. Three schools in Kenora taking part are Evergreen Public School, Keewatin Public School and King George IV School.

Students at these schools struggled with application questions, thinking questions and multiple-choice questions. The program will support school-based professional learning centres for students to help with math.